Archive for April, 2011

Queensday 2011

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

Today was Queensday / Koninginnedag in NL and it is the first time since I moved to Norway in 2007 that I am actually *in* the country taking part in the festivities!

Uhh, well, no real QueensDAY festivities for me today after some serious partying last night during the Queen’s NIGHT / Koninginnenach! πŸ˜‰ We were out in The Hague until 7:30am and stayed up YouTubeing the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show (check them out here)…a LOT of fun after a SUPERB night out, not too good for my energy level today though! πŸ˜‰

Time to zzzz now, busy day coming up tomorrow as my parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary!!

Hot AIR ballooning, once more a no-go

Friday, April 29th, 2011

Weather seemed great for the hot air balloon adventure this evening, but it got cancelled…AGAIN!! πŸ™

Believe it or not, but there was *too much* wind…?!?! Huh, and I thought that wind was one of the prerequisites for hot AIR ballooning?? Well, the next possibility is coming Monday, and luckily I am still in NL then so cross fingers that we will fly that balloon!

 

A new veranda in the making

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Although the ‘Veranda Season 2011‘ opened just recently, the season got already closed, more or less permanently…at least for *that* veranda! πŸ˜‰ A new and bigger veranda is being built these days, I am looking forward to a second Grand Opening of the Veranda Season!

As you can see below, the guys did A LOT in just one day, so I wonder what it will look like when I come back from NL next week Sunday. It should be finished by then…so, bring on the chilled white wine!! πŸ˜‰

 

Stuck on an escalator

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

VERY funny YouTube clip…the deeper thought behind it; will the human race ever become so numb? I hope not!

A pile of firewood

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Ok, one thing is for sure: I won’t lack any firewood coming winter…hehe, it *will* be a warm winterΒ (inside at least)! πŸ˜‰

The neighbor put a shitload of wood (5-6 m^3), nicely cut in burnable pieces, in front of the garage after our β€˜Ved-Dugnadβ€˜ last Friday…it was quite some work to pile it up nicely so that it can dry over summer. Heyhey, what else should one do with Easter, eh? πŸ˜‰

Firewood…

 

…a LOT of firewood!

 

…and where did all that wood go??

 

…indeed, THIS is where the wood went! πŸ˜‰

QOTD April 25 2011

Monday, April 25th, 2011

Ice T: “Passion makes the world go round. Love just makes it a safer place.”

Happy Easter!

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

Happy Easter y’all!!

And? Did the Easter Bunny hide some Easter eggs for you too?? Found them? I did… πŸ˜‰

Today: ‘THE’ time of ‘THE’ day in ‘A’ year

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

Exactly NOW 39 years ago I saw ‘the light’ for the very first time…literally πŸ˜‰ , I am born on April 23 1972 @ 22:40h!

Despite that time as we ‘know’ it, is relative and a human invention, the actual Birth time does play a role and has an influence on your character, life and its opportunities…and yes, you obviously always make your own choices and define the course of your life…it is after all YOUR life!! Life, which is defined by LOVE; love received, love given, the conscious connection to the unlimited source of LOVE inside you…

Thanks everyone for all the LOVE that you have sent, are sending and will send my way, it has been, is and will be received in love…you have my passionate and unconditional LOVE, today on my Birthday and all days to come!!

Word/work of the Day: Ved-Dugnad

Friday, April 22nd, 2011

Sunny days before Easter, a day off on Good Friday (called langfredag / ‘Long Friday’ in Norway) and a neighbor with a shitload of cut trees in his backyard…well, that calls for a ‘Ved-Dugnad‘, in other words: gather together with neighbors, relatives and friends and play with wood; collect the trees, cut them up, split the wood, collect it in a trailer and deliver it to the various homes.

A long day filled with a lot of physical work outside in the sun…hehe, I had a great time!!

Oh, there is around 6m^3 ready and waiting for me in front of the garage…oof, I’ve got some work to do tomorrow! πŸ˜‰

Oh, and in the mean time the very last snow melted!! April 29, the garden is officially snow free!!

Oslo Opera House

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Maudy Thursday is a public holiday in Norway and we decided to go for an Easter concert in the Oslo Opera House.

The Opera House is relatively new, it opened in 2008, and has a quite unique architecture and superb acoustics. We got to know this and a lot more (and also saw the costume production plus a sneek peek backstage) during a very interesting guided tour that I got as a Birthday present from Per and Ingrid…NICE, thanks again friends!!!

The concert itself was great too; first a mix of piano excerpts performed by Josephine Hsieh, followed by the NEDT brass ensemble performing various popular and classical parts on trumpet, horn and trombone.

It was truly fantastic…hehe, I *LOVE* to listen to live music!!

 

Curry-Winer; a relationship rebooted

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

Great!! Adam Curry and Dave Winer have found each other again; they ‘rebootedtheir relationship and will be working on ‘a’ new project. I wonder what it is (I have some idea though πŸ˜‰ ) and hope it will be a similar revolution as their previous cooperation: podcasting!

Hmm, it would be a nice bonus if they find time to also reboot their Trade Secrets podcast in some form. πŸ˜‰

QOTD April 19 2011

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Raoul Vaneigem: “In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of producing has always been an enemy of the desire to create.”

Spring is here to stay

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Although there is still some snow covering the parts of the garden, yesterday’s hike in the forest proofed that most of the snow is really gone! Check out the pictures of the Lysdammen lake below, quite a difference with the winter and autumn scenes, eh? πŸ˜‰

(and uhhh, this is just 5 minutes from the house; quite some nature, eh?)

How to sell a car! ;)

Sunday, April 17th, 2011

Following the funny YouTube clip a week ago, in which Robert De Niro showed us how NOT to sell a car, I now have live experience ‘How to sell a car’: today I sold the old BMW…crashed, smashed and non-driving, yet for still quite some money (at least considerably more than the fine that the police gave me, so that is a net-positive! πŸ˜‰ )!

The only thing that still reminds me of the car crash, is the period (four months in total) that I will be without my driver’s license, at least here in Norway…I decided to not fight the original fine since it turned out that the chances of lowering it via a court case are close to zero. The energy that it takes to go through it is not worth it and can be better spent on other things……IT IS, and I’m moving on!

QOTD April 16 2011

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

Aine Belton: “Life is your garden, get out & PLAY, fill it with your love & joy, & it will always be a summer’s day!”

A heart beating!

Friday, April 15th, 2011

We went to the midwife today and heard the baby’s heart beating for the very first time…SO special!!!

Pohoda 2011 – tickets are IN!

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Yayyyy!!! My Slovak friends arranged THE tickets for THE festival of the year: Pohoda 2011!!

It’s gonna be terrific…it actually needs to be since the last two editions were really only half a festival because of the terrible distaster in 2009 and the World Cup soccer final last year.

Some of the bands performing this year: Madness, Pulp, Moby (!), Portishead (!), Beirut and dEUS!!

Robbert and I will do as we ‘normally’ do; drive 1450km on Thursday, start the party that same evening (hopefully after setting up the tent πŸ˜‰ ), party ’till we drop until Sunday, cool down in the Senec lake and drive back on Monday…yeah, it is gonna be TERRIFIC!!! πŸ˜‰

 

X-Files online…really?

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

FBI.gov: “we are announcing a revamping of our electronic reading roomβ€”renamed β€œThe Vault”—which contains more than two thousand documents that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your own home or office. Included here are more than 25 new files that have been released to the public but never added to this website; dozens of records previously posted on our site but removed as requests diminished over time; and files carried over from our previous electronic reading room.”

The Roswell UFO case is among the documents as you can see here.

The ‘original’ (in quotes since you never know what is really original, eh? πŸ˜‰ ) document is dated July 22 1947, and has the word ‘Roswell’ written across the top. It mentions that a ‘flying disc’ was recovered near Roswell, New Mexico.

Apparently there was no extra-terrestrial life found, since: “The disc is hexagonal in shape and was suspended from a balloon by cable” and “The object found resembles a high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector.”…too bad, or are you supporting Fox Mulder and his catchphrase ‘The Truth is Out There‘?

QOTD April 12 2011

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Hugh Macleod: “It’s about what YOU are going to do with the short time you have left on this earth.”

How NOT to sell a car! ;)

Monday, April 11th, 2011

A typical example for every sales training…uhhh, showing you how NOT to sell! πŸ˜‰

Robert De Niro plays an over-the-top car sales man in the movie Analyze That, as you can see inΒ  this YouTube clip. Memorable quotes: “You’ve been breaking my balls for about an hour…”, “…HERE’S the manager!” and “tell ‘m to get a Honda!”

HILARIOUS!! πŸ˜‰